“…we’re committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India,” Zuckerberg said
NEW DELHI| Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg through his Facebook account informs $5.7 billion investment in India’s Reliance Industries Ltd-owned mobile telecom company Reliance Jio on Tuesday. Mark Zuckerberg also thanked the Reliance Industries Head Mukesh Ambani for the partnership and also said he was “looking forward to getting started”.
Elebrotating the collaboration Facebook Inc. said it would focus on collaborations between its messaging platform WhatsApp and Reliance Industries Limited’s e-commerce venture JioMart.
Zuckerberg took to his social media platform Facebook and wrote, “Facebook is teaming up with Jio Platforms we’re making a financial investment, and more than that, we’re committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India”.
He further added, “India is home to the largest communities on Facebook and WhatsApp and a lot of talented entrepreneurs. The country is in the middle of a major digital transformation and organizations like Jio have played a big part in getting hundreds of millions of Indians, small businesses online”.
Mukesh Ambani while talking to news agency ANI said, “My fellow Indians, I’m here to share some exciting news with you. All of us at Reliance Jio are delighted to welcome Facebook Inc. as our partner. At the core of this partnership is a commitment to Mark Zuckerberg and I share for the digital transformation of India”.
This tie-up will “empowered and can create new employment opportunities with digital technology” Mukesh Ambani stressed the benefits of this tie-up which will help the small Kirana stores across the nation nearly 3 crores.
After the government approved WhatsApp digital payment service this deal came into existence. According to an Assocham-PWC India Study, the Facebook-owned platform is now set to compete with the likes of Google Pay and Paytm for a market that will be worth $135.2 billion in 2023.
In his post, Mr Zuckerberg pointed out that small businesses India has over 60 million of these and a significant majority of these use digital payment services like Paytm and Google Pay were the core of every economy and millions relied on them for employment. WhatsApp has 400 million users in India, its biggest market, reaching nearly 80 percent of smartphone users in the country.
Zuckerberg said, “With communities around the world in lockdown, many of these entrepreneurs need digital tools they can rely on to find and communicate with customers and grow their businesses. This is something we can help with and that’s why we’re partnering with Jio to help people and businesses in India create new opportunities”.
For Reliance, whose debt pile swelled to more than $40 billion as of September, the partnership will bring in much needed funds to make good on its promise to cut net debt to zero by March 2021.
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